40 Chic Patio Ideas to Try in Your Backyard

Whether you have a tiny balcony or an expansive garden, our guide to creating a luxurious outside area will help you take full advantage of warm weather. So read on for forty stylish backyard and patio ideas to try in your own spaces, from colorful tile design tips to minimalist dining nooks. Fresh air and fresh style ahead.

Coordinate your throw pillows to the florals and hang a timeless pendant light to polish things off. Plus, swapping out your pillows is the easy (and cost-effective) way to upgrade your patio each season.

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Brittany Ambridge

Versatile Patio Tables

Out on a Houston terrace designed by Celerie Kemble and Lindsey Herod, two square tables push together to accommodate larger gatherings. The Graves chairs are from McKinnon and Harris.

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Lauren Stephanie Wells

Artsy Chairs

This patio is both approachable and design-forward, laid-back and put together. For a similar vibe, opt for sling chairs that make a statement. Or, if you have some affordable sling chairs like this, get crafty and paint the canvas yourself.

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Marion Brenner

Breakfast Outdoor Patio

Wendy Owen created a "breakfast patio" for her Sonoma property using French café chairs and a stone table. The dishes are by Astier de Villatte.

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Nicole Franzen

A Lookout Point

While that green spiral staircase is seriously striking, the real showstopper here is the view. If your patio overlooks beautiful scenery, line up some lounge chairs and call it a day on the patio.

Always say yes to bougainvillea and fire pits. To make the seating area feel like its own nook on a larger patio, lay down some tiles that make it stand out.

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Annie Schlechter

Coordinating Patio Chairs

Adirondack chairs, painted to match a North Carolina getaway, invite guests to the terrace. Architect James Carter added another whimsical gesture — a closet in the chimney for firewood and outdoor furniture — to enhance the illusion that this newly constructed house is an antique.

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PHOTO: Felix Forest; DESIGN: Arent & Pyke

Elevated Seating

This stylish patio blends in beautifully with the natural environment thanks to the color scheme and materials. To make an outdoor space feel as put together as living room, introduce an outdoor rug and elevated seating like this modern porch swing.

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Björn Wallander

Patio Mood Lighting

Designer Jill Sharp Weeks brought in new vegetation, furniture, and string lights to help a Charleston garden feel like an extension of the home's first floor.

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Nicole Franzen

A Chic Hammock

Channel vacation vibes by hanging a slim hammock and nature-inspired furniture, like this stool and lounger. Then paint everything white and pretend you're in Santorini.

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Fantastic Frank

Concrete Jungle

This dining area blends in beautifully with the natural landscape. If you're in a city or your patio is small, use your vertical space to introduce greenery but maintain a sense of place with edgy, sleek furniture. Then hang some string lights to soften things up.

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Victoria Pearson

Patio Fire Bowl

With a low-key palette inspired by the backyard orange grove, this California vacation home embodies Ojai's no-hurries, no-worries vibe. A relaxed seating area with a fire bowl allows the family to linger outdoors on cool evenings.

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Studio Lifestyle

Dramatic Sofa Swings

Swing sofas are relaxing and comfortable, , they're more visually intriguing than your average seating. That's especially true if you play with scale and proportion, as is the case above.

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Nicole Franzen

Wide Open Space

Give your outdoor area a clubhouse vibe with a straw roof, ample seating, a bar, and mood lighting. Keep things open if the climate allows.

In the outdoor dining area of a Southern home designed by Michelle Prentice, Casamidy's Varenne chairs are painted the same creamy Glidden white as the exterior walls.

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Studio Lifestyle

An Outdoor Bar

Build a bar for more stylish entertaining outdoors. Choose an eye-catching tile design and hang string lights for a romantic, summery vibe. If you have the means to build a full-on outdoor kitchen, even better.

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Trevor Tondro

Gas Patio Fireplace

A gas-powered outdoor fireplace warms the loggia off an Atlanta home's great room (designed by Matthew Quinn) on crisp autumn evenings. The Ballard Designs planters are modeled on olive-oil jars.

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James Merrell

Patio Fire Pit

A fire pit, a dock, and a Gerald DiGiusto 1960s steel sculpture come together in designer Thom Filicia's yard at his rustic but sophisticated upstate New York lake house.

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Nicole Franzen

Poolside Lounging

To separate your patio sitting area from the pool, create a little makeshift barrier with a tile path and grass.

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Trevor Tondro

Bluestone Patio Pavers

The entrance to this Charleston kitchen house—now a guesthouse—opens onto a bluestone courtyard with seating by Janus et Cie. The renovation of this 1772 home was intended to highlight and preserve the historic elements of the house.

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Nicole Franzen

Eye-Catching Tiles

An eye-catching tile on the patio can make all the difference. Choose a whimsical pattern with bright colors and then use more timeless and neutral furniture that won't overwhelm the eye.

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Charles Mayer/ Courtesy of Edmund Hollander

Shady Patio Trees

Outdoor living areas should feel comfortable and sheltered, like this space designed by landscape architect Edmund Hollander. Six plane trees give structure to the "dining room" with their straight trunks and spreading canopies. They create shade during the day, and at night, they're strung with lights.

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Fantastic Frank

Neutral Colors

For a sleek, minimalist patio, whitewash your wood paneled deck and keep things tonal with a gravel garden instead of grass. And to extend your time outside, bring out a heat lamp.

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William Abranowicz

Mediterranean Patio

Climbing vines and exposed beams create an enchanting setting for an outdoor space. The terrace of the Spanish Colonial Revival, designed by Leigh Anne Muse and Lili O'Briend, is outfitted with Kingsley-Bate's Southampton seating, with cushions in a Perennials fabric.

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Pernille Loof

Urban Getaway Patio

With a restaurant-worthy outdoor kitchen, the roof of a Brooklyn brownstone by designer Laurie Blumenfeld-Russo became a multi-season entertaining oasis. Flowering clematis vines scale the pergola, softening the industrial feeling of the support beams.

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Karyn R. Millet

High Altitude Patio

Matt O'Dorisio created this elevated outdoor patio for a Lake Tahoe vacation home. The seating area combines contemporary teak with more traditional wicker. "It's like an extension of the living room into the forest," he says.

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Lauren Stephanie Wells

In the Trees

A dramatic tree branch hanging over the patio sitting area will create a truly magical ambiance. Just add some comfortable lounge chairs and a small stool to use a side table or extra seating.

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J. Savage Gibson

Ivy-Covered Patio Walls

In the interior courtyard, fig ivy softens a brick wall and a mature palmetto tree adds a sense of permanence to a brand-new South Carolina house by designer Michelle Prentice. The West Elm sofa is covered in a Sunbrella fabric.

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